Philadelphia (left) faces off against Baltimore!
Photo by Michael Willliams.

Players from Baltimore locked horns with rivals from Philadelphia to engage in the annual match for bragging rights on the east coast. The match took place in Delaware (Pennsylvania) at the home of Malik Rogers. Baltimore avenged their loss from last year’s sound beating by the score of 14-12.

In last year’s matchup, Baltimore fell behind early and closed the distance but Philly won by a comfortable margin. This year several key players were missing from both sides. Michael Williams was on the scene and stated that top Baltimore player IM Oladapo Adu was missing and Philly Masters Elvin Wilson and Glenn Bady were unable to play.

This was in fact the 3rd installment of the Baltimore vs. Philly match. Baltimore won the first match, Philly won the second match, and Baltimore won the third match. Thus, Baltimore is 2 – 1 in the series. This year Baltimore brought a very strong unified team, and we were ready to play. In the first round of the latest match Baltimore won 7 – 6. the second round Philly shuffled their lineup and added Norman Rogers and Herb Carswell to the team. Baltimore kept the same lineup both rounds. Norm played largely on my request. We wanted to face their very best team. Baltimore won the second round as well 7 – 6, giving us a 14 – 12 victory.

I would like to point out. This match is a lot of fun and a great idea. Lamont Rogers who hosts the event at his house every year is a gracious host. He does a great job preparing the food and making everyone feel comfortable and at home, and the Deleware location of his house is a pretty good midway point between Philly and Baltimore. All the brothers from Philly are really good guys as well, I enjoy talking some friendly trash and playing competitive games with them every year. I would enjoy having an East Coast West Coast Match with them as my team mates one day, maybe over the internet or something. But before all that happens next up for Team Baltimore. Team New York.

By the way thanks to Doctor Shabazz for hosting a site like where we can comment on the match.

Baltimore did not shuffle board positions. Rd. 1 Umstead beat Morrison, Stancil beat Mays, Bruce T. beat Hutchinson, Jorge Martinez, Tavon, David McDuffie won, others?? but the score
was 7-6 Baltimore after the first round, as my game was the last to finish.

In Rd 2, Norman Rogers arrived and the Philly team reshuffled only. Morrison smashed Umstead, Stancil lost to Rogers, Hutchinson beat Mays, Jorge Martinez, Tavon, and David McDuffie won again and we won the second round too.

Full article? You’re expecting me to write it? That is the question that I should be asking the participants who played in the match or were in Delaware. I received bits and pieces of the story on yesterday from Morrison. He sent his game against Umstead and told me the score… that’s it. This is what I got from Michael Williams… which had a bit more detail:

Hey Daaim, so we’re at it again… Another Philly vs Baltimore! Just for the record the score was tied at 1 apiece before this endeavor. Representing Philly to name a few Norman Roger, Glenn Umstead and Herb Causwell.. for Baltimore William Morrison ,Antoine Hutchinson, and Kimani Stancil Noticeably missing were Adu, David Paulina, And Elvin Wilson (who showed up later). Baltimore ended up pulling off the victory due to a strong second round. Kimani was nice enough to offer some analysis to his game. Enjoy the pics and the games.

Michael is always good about filling me in with quick updates and that’s what I got. I received this message at 12:31am this morning and didn’t post the story until around 9:30am. Also the games you submitted to Michael were not in PGN format, so I would then have to import them into ChessBase and then type in your comments myself. That’s very tedious work passed onto me.

It’s a bit much to expect a turnaround so quickly (12:30am-9:30am) if I’m having to do data entry on all the games with limited information on the event. We all use ChessBase so you should be key in and send them in the PGN format. All I should be doing is posting the reports and generating the games. If the story is to be done right then those who were there should write them.

I’m not sure of which facts were wrong because not ALL facts could be wrong. I had not seen any of the information you and Antoine presented until shortly after 2:00pm. I was then getting things together for my classes at 3:30 and couldn’t address your comments. My classes ended at 6:15pm.

On your post, the complete names are still not listed for all players. Only first names were given for many. You then added “Nails” and Quinton. I cannot run a report that way… it’s unprofessional and it’s disrespectful to the players. You also use “etc.” when listing names. I’m not sure what that supposed to mean.

When you all get the information together, send it to me with all the correctly-spelled names, formatted PGN files, crosstables, charts and photos, it will be the way you would want to see it.

Bruce Thompson said that Baltimore are a school of fish. They were lucky, he told me that he crushed Antoine and destroy Richard, what a joke. Next time the Baltimore aquarium travel to match wits with Philly it we will have a large hook for them. Such luck should not be published. Bruce Thompson, said, “he will carry a fishing rod the next time.

The 3rd annual Philly vs Baltimore was more of the same. Good people, okay chess (lol) and good times!. Thanks to the continued hospitality of Malik Rogers, we have been able to laugh, eat ,joke , eat some more, play and enjoy each others presence. And that’s really what its all about. We also managed to have the annual blitz tournament with cash prizes for the Open(trophy) and U2000 sections. The format was simple, play as many people as you can once, with each color before Malik essentially calls time. This was won by Philly’s Gordon Houston with 261/2 pts.
We should really look into citys’ playing citys’ like it’s been mentioned before.

Is there a tri-state tournament happening… New York-Philly-Baltimore?? I think Maurice may come back and put a smack-down on some of you. Farai is up there too… Steve Colding, Jerald Times, Nate Jackson, Chikwere Onyekwere. New York might bust you all up Glenn.

Remember Maurice’s African-American Unity tournaments? Brothers from Philly went to New York and played in the theme tournaments. Read through his beautiful vision. Also see the realization of his vision.

Daaim,
I appreciate your difficulties in posting items. This is not the issue. Yes I know that I did not include complete names because I did not know them all, but I wanted to somewhat accomodate ‘pawnmaster’s observation which I think was correct. In general,
I apologize for the structure of my post as I was supremely distracted so that only one hand did the deed. I will be more succinct in future. I am not even sure who is at fault based on your post and my e-conversations with Michael Williams. When the event was finished, Michael Williams said that he was going to put something together for the chess drum, so I told him great, Specifically, he asked for the games to include(I wasn’t the only person he asked), so I put some effort in to send him(before your article posted) as a .txt file to include to provide a better flavor of the event. I was not informed as to what format he needed them for an article. As most know, I can deliver games in any format as long as it is requested(so if you want them now, just let me know). In future, I think there may have to be a designated article format to deliver because a few of us including me were willing to do it, but Michael offered so I thought that was a wrap.’Nails’ is probably Richard based on my recollection.
Regarding the facts which I may have emotionally overstated given the article was not as I envisioned based on Michael William’s request. I admit this one fact is key to Baltimore’s
struggle.
1) Our team leader, Morrison lost to Umstead in the 1st round. and bounced back by taking advantage in the opening of the 2nd.

Additionally, I do not believe that Bruce Thompson used the words Glenn Bady has used. Point of fact: In the first round, Antoine Hutchinson blundered on the sixth move against Bruce which led to his inevitable loss(he played on as strongly as he could for the team), and this added to our team’s struggle. Jorge Martinez is an unheralded talent who went undefeated, and others certainly put in the work. The round ended with my game, and only at the end did I know we had won the 1st round due to my win. Yes, we struggled, and thought we would do much better, but that is the nature of a hard-fought match between teams of strong and courageous players.{Glenn–stop causing trouble :=), you did not even show.} Note: Elvin Wilson came later on and it was good to see him, as we were scholastic players
together.

On another note, not as an excuse, but I thought that including
everyone’s name was the best mark of inclusiveness and team concept. Spelling and completeness is great, but sometimes I feel
that recognizing the team or group is a little more important, especially if they did not deserve being left out of the discussion.
Our team contributions were most important to our success!

I will try not to post anymore on this topic, and will be available to
discuss by phone. Best to both teams as chess brotherhood lives!

Say what you want to say. Philly is by far the stronger team. We are so deep, deeper than Baltimore and New York. Our top boards are not our strength its our team as a massive unit. Our middle and bottom boards are just the best. We would crush Baltimore, sorry Dr. Kimani but I must tell the truth, and New York. Oh! by the way I think they are the only two teams that can match Philly’s massive strength. Bruce told me about the match and he did tell me that he crushed his opponents. The Queen lost was a result of a beautiful combination by Mr. Thompson.

Who is Bruce Thompson ? I believe he is one of the biggest fish on the East Coast, a Sturgeon, any of various large fishes inhabiting Philly.
Maybe, I can get matched with that Sturgeon next year, I can’t wait.
This was my first slow chess game in years and the rust showed in the first round, where I blew a won endgame. The Second round I won an endgame against a decent player.
This was a great event. Malique Rogers is a gracious host.
Some names I remember from the B-more team.
Richard (Nails) Thomas
Quintin Thomas

No need to analyze faults. There are good intentions all around, but I do believe that we often find that our available time is not commensurate with our intentions. 🙂 Michael makes a lot of contributions and is someone whose efforts I appreciate. Of course, you’ve made tremendous contributions over the years both in writing and in phone conversations.

I think that these events are noteworthy, but they there has to be a concerted effort to record these events properly. The event should have had a crosschart, someone entering the games in ChessBase, someone designated to take photos (not with a phone) or video and finally someone to put a report together. I understand that everyone wants to play and to watch, but those not playing should do something… if nothing more than making note of interesting games and positions.

Believe me, these tasks are not easy if they are to be done right. However, I realize I can’t get Frank Johnson or Fred Lucas chess photographs all the time. I use the pictures I get and I’m always grateful, but we have to document these events. When I did the Wilbert Paige booklet (and covered the event on TCD), it was not perfect, but the quality was acceptable and the world was able to follow the event and then read an account that has become a permanent record of a historic event.

New York can also add Kassa Korley to the mix. I think they’d have a good lineup against Philly and Baltimore. I think a tri-state tournament would be good. The only thing is getting everyone on the same schedule.

How come DC brothers like Tom Murphy are not playing in these? DC got Oliver Kayende too.

Now THIS would be a tournament for the ages!! I’d have to fly up there!

This one is for Glenn Bady, much respect to Team Philly, especially Michael Williams for posting the pics.
I am going to start out by saying, that if Bruce was talking trash about our game then he deserves that as I was talking some trash before our game, about how we were going to crush Philly. I was the first one to lose. Here is the game score for the first 10 moves if anyone cares.
Antoine Hutchinson White
Bruce Thompson Black
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 ed
4.Bc4 Be7
5. c3 d6
6. Qb3 Na5
7. Bxf7 Kf8
8. Qb5 KxB
9. QxN c6
10. O-O?? Q x Q

Now as for you Glenn, you sound like Hillary Clinton talking about Barack Obama. Hillary you lost deal with it!! The men from Baltimore won 2 out of three years, if Philly is better prove it on the chess board next year. Next time maybe you might want to show up to help. Eventhough in your own words “Our top boards are not our strength” and since you are one of the team Philly top boards………….

By the way Glenn do you remember back at the World Open this summer when you told Kimani Stancil that he would not win a blitz chess game against you, and Kimani was like all right then prove it, but I do not have all day so first one to win 5 games. You and he played a match first to 5 which of course since you said Kimani was not going to win a game against you, you should have won 5 -0. Kimani the match 5 – 3. You bark a good game John McCain but let’s get back to the issues not the false attacks , and baseless rhetoric.

Signed
Antoine Hutchinson, Team Baltimore
5 – 1 Baltimore vs. Philly most wins of any player in the series.

Michael has made a lot of contributions to The Chess Drum. He is one of the few that has the awareness to carry his camera and shoot me an e-mail about events on the east coast. Even though I still have to edit the pics, optimize them, resize them, we can all see how much life pictures add to a story. The picture at the top was priceless and when I first saw it, it produced a huge smile on my face. I only wish we had gotten board #1 and all of board #2. Nevertheless, great job Michael!!

Daaim,
Thanks for the correction on who posted the pics. Yes that was a great pic, and you are right it would have been better if all the boards could have made it. I would like to add a correction to my posting above. Kimani beat Glenn 5 games to 3 after Glenn said he would beat Kimani 5 – 0.

Right now, I’m a one-man shop at The Chess Drum and post everything here, but I do get contributions of photos and e-mail. I may consider a guest blogger though. 8)

All,

GAMES COMING!!

Extermo sent me the minature game he won over Umstead. Michael sent me both of the games between Umstead and Morrison. Both have some instructive qualities. Umstead played superbly in the first game, but then fell asleep in the opening in the second… Extermo won quickly. Michael also sent Kimani’s two games. We’re working on getting those formatted. Kimani annotated them. Here are the first two scores.

Hey Mike… nobody in the world will ever be able to take that picture that you took! Only your eyes saw that shot. Sometimes we miss the “perfect” shot, but at least you immortalized that event.

You know… when I was in Spain for the 2004 Olympiad, I learned a lot about photography from Alexander Kosteniuk’s husband, Pufichek. We were discussing my digital camera and he told me (paraphrasing), “Just keep shooting. Shoot as often and as many pictures as the camera will allow.” He also said use a big resolution in case editing is needed. With large resolution, you can get all the blemishes off of a pic and then when you shrink it, no one can tell.

Working in the press rooms is inspirational and you get tips in this business. ChessBase’s Frederic Friedel was peeking at my screen and he said, “So THIS is how it’s done!” I covered my screen! I didn’t want him stealing my secrets. 😆 Friedel had lots of GMs coming over to him getting free ChessBase CDs. I met Ponomariov and Anand there. Guys in the pressrooms are serious about their work and it made me push harder.

You’re right Kimani. There are a lot of tricks. You can take a couple of shots and stitch them together, but everyone has to be still or the stitching won’t work. This can be done in all photo editing tools. Anyway I knew that was you because I saw the corner of The Chess Drum t-shirt showing! 🙂

To the Delaware chessplayers Bruce and Glen, I had a great time at the chess event (Thanks Malik) but I don’t quite agree with your view in regards to my game with Bruce in the second round. Yes, Bruce won it but it would be extremely difficult to define it by saying “he destroyed me”and I also feel that Bruce is too much a gentleman to ever express himself in such a manner without saying it directly to his opponent. Also, the queen blunder in the game with Antoine is very much self-evident. So, to all of you trash talkers “I will see you the next time over the board!!!” See yah, Richard Thomas. P.S. to Glen… If we are fish, then we must be one of the voracious Piranha species! You do not want to put your hand into an aquarium if they are in it.

Daaim, Thanks about the pics.. I do like Fred Lucas’s photos and I was surprised at how good Frank’s work is. Alexandra Kosteniuk was married in 2004? She was only like 20 still a baby! I’ll remember that tip about the resolution.

It appears that I jumped on the wrong person. My apologies Bruce. The pics and games really has set this blog off. Thanks to Daaim Shabazz and Michael Williams ( pics and first hand accounts) for posting this event. The Exterminator is trying to set up another match shortly in the Baltimore area. If we can set it up and it is half as good as Malik’s event, we will have a winner.

Kimani,
Your scribes are very insightful.
Lee
I sometimes wonder, if I ever took the time to study, what I might have become.

William Morrison tells me it’s on again this weekend for Philly-Baltimore rematch. I personally think Philly will come with all of their bazookas and they will need it against Baltimore’s high-powered lineup. They’d better have Glenn Bady and Ray Robinson this time. Baltimore doesn’t sound like they’re ready to take a beating. IM Oladapo Adu is playing as well as veteran Charles Covington! Only one city will remain standing. Which will it be?

Daaim,
I hope that every Philly player read your post because it is
only a glimpse of the fact that Philadelphia will need every strong player(not strong talkers like Glenn Bady) they have to be able to compete well enough this time. If everyone plays as present
commitments go, I do not see Philadelphia coming close. And this is all the ‘trash-talking’ I will do as I embrace in fellowship all persons involved in this event. Best to all in our enduring chess struggle!

Hi Daaim,
Nice selection for game of the month.
Yes, Glenn Umstead game against William should be the game of the month. Its a very instructive game full of strategic concepts. Glenn is a very creative player and can play multiple blindfold games simultaneous. He is really smart. Although, William was completely outplayed in their first game, he turned into “THE THING” in their second encounter and crushed Glenn in a beautiful miniature. AS FOR YOU DR. KIMANI AND MR. ANTOINE WE HAVE A SPECIAL WIGGLE RESISTANCE NET THAT CATCHES ALL FISH WITHOUT LETTING THEM ESCAPE. PHILLY WILL COME NOT WITH DOUBLE BARREL, BUT WITH GATLIN GUNS. BALTIMORE!!!! DO YOU HEAR US… THERE IS NO ESCAPING YOUR DESTRUCTION. GRRRR!!!!!

I wish I could be a fly on the wall this weekend. It’s going to be a great matchup! I’m sure there will be some phone calls made to draft some sharks. I’m sure Philly’s “Gizmo” will get a call and on the Baltimore side, we may see Murphy… two street masters. Will Baltimore get Oliver Kayende? This could be quite a gathering.

Glenn, BRING IT!! We right here!! and to quote THE ROCK we are going to lay the “Smack Down” on your candy @$$. Hey Glenn as a matter of a fact. How about this, the loser has to write the article for The Chess Drum. Meaning when Philly loses you Glenn Bady have to write the article, and if a catastrophy on the level of hurricane Katrina happens and Baltimore some how loses then, I will write the article. Ok?? Of course to write article you are actually going to have to show up this time.

I tried not to talk the trash but everytime I get out they pull me back in.

[…] There has been a lot of buzz going on about the match tomorrow (September 20th) between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Both sides have been trash-talking and Philly is looking to avenge their 14-12 loss. This battle has become a fierce rivalry and it’s time to settle the score for once and for all. Will Baltimore blast Philly into next week or will Philly pulverize Baltimore into submission? Whatever will happen, some inspired chess will be played and the event will be made known to the world! […]

[…] In any event, Baltimoreans combined forces to win the summer match as a team. Philadelphia did not triumph but acted as if they had. Yes, all appreciated their team’s effort, but the result appeared to be questioned not questionable. Baltimore beat Philadelphia 14-12. NM Glenn Bady could not accept the result and began to talk trash. Baltimore through Antoine Hutchinson, and this author responded. […]